Door frame protector



Aug. 21, 1962 L. M. SUTHERLAND DooR FRAME PROTECTOR Filed June 1l, 1959BY QJ; @Q

ATTORNEYS.

United States attent 3,050,232 DOOR FRAME PROTECTOR Lionel M.Sutherland, 74 River Drive, Tequesta, Fla. Filed `lune 11, 1959, Ser.No. 819,583 2 Claims. (Cl. 229-40) This invention relates to protectivecoverings for use in building construction, and more particularly, itrelates to a disposable protective cover for exposed constructionmaterials for use during 'the building operation. During the operationsincidental to the construction of various building structures, and inthe accompanying moving period, there is a constant danger of causingcostly damage to exposed finished and partly finished constructionelements such as doorways, [trimmed openings, partition ends, and closetopenings. Attempts have been made to alleviate such damage, for exampleit is customary to nail a wooden strip at each side of a door frame forthis purpose. This method, however, is inadequate and costly in that theprotection is afforded to only two of several exposed surfaces and theincidental damage caused by the nailing requires the making of repairsby skilled labor.

It is an object of this invention to provide an economical protectivestructure which may be used to cover finished and partly finishedexposed construction elements during various stages of building.

It is another object of this invention to provide such a protectivearticle which can be applied rapidly by unskilled labor.

It is another object to provide a protective covering for constructionmaterial which is re-usable in that it may readily be removed from oneconstruction job and be subsequently applied to other construction jobsas building operations progress.

It is another object of this invention to provide such a protectivestructure which will absorb rthe shock inherent in collisions whichoccur during normal building operations, thereby protecting fnished andsemi-finished construction elements.

It is another object to provide a self-supporting protective cover forconstruction material, which may be applied to and removed fromconstruction elements in a building without incidental damage to theprotected material.

It is another object to provide a protective article for coveringconstruction material which may readily be applied and removed from aconstruction element in sequence with the various building operationsperformed upon that element.

Other objects and advantages of the article of this invention willbecome apparent from a reading of the following specication and from thedrawings wherein:

FIG. l is a broken perspective view of an article constructed inaccordance with the principles of this invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic perspective View of a door opening in abuilding wall to `which the article of this invention has been applied.

FIG. 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken along the lines and in thedirection of the arrows III-III of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a broken perspective view taken of a corner of the sectionshown in FIG. 3, showing the means of applying the article of thisinvention to a construction element.

The article of this invention generally comprises an elongated flexiblesheet-like member having shock absorbing characteristics, and havingformed therein a plurality of transverse elongated flap portions alongthe longitudinal edges thereof and coextensively therewith, and aplurality of readily deformable elongated fastening members affixed toone surface of the sheet-like member, each fastening member overlying amajor portion of the longitudinal dimension of a ilap portion, wherebythe sheet-'like member may be removably attached so as to cover athreesided construction element by folding the sheet-like member withthe fastening members exposed around the three sides of the constructionelement and deforming the fastening member and the underlying flexibleap por-tions so as to engage projections of the construction element.The specific embodiment of this invention chosen for representation andshown in FIG. 1 comprises a flexible elongated sheet member 11 whichconsists of an outer liner 12, an inner liner 13, and a shock absorbingcore 14. Core 114 is here shown as a corrugated sheet material which`may economically be formed from material such as paper, impregnatedfabric, and fthe like. Alternatively, core 14 may be a sheet ofresilient foam-like material of natural or synthetic origin. However, itis essential that core 14- have shock absorbing characteristics for usein accordance with the principles of this invention. Directed inwardlyof the longitudinal edges of member 11 are a plurality of elongatedtransverse aps 17 which are formed by cutting through member 11 in atransverse direction along lines 18 and 19. Other similar liaps may belocated as desired along the longitudinal edges as required. There isplaced longitudinally coextensive with each flap 17 a readily deformablefastening member 20 having an innermost end portion 21, which issecurely fastened to the body of member 11 by a plurality of fasteners22 (see also FIG. 3). Fastening member 20 may be readily formed from aninexpensive material such as a thin sheet of soft metal or from areadily deformable plastic material. Portion 21 of member 20 may be alsofastened to the outer liner 12 by any suitable fastening means such asadhesives and the like. For the purposes of the embodiment of thisinvention shown in FIG. l, a pair of parallel score lines 23, 24 havebeen spaced transversely of the outer liner 112 running longitudinallythereof whereby member 11 is easily adapted to be shaped in accordancewith the principles of 'this invention as hereinafter described.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the article of this invention is shown in useas a protective covering material for a door opening in a building wall30. At the base wall 30 lare shown the conventional baseboards 31. Byreferring also to FIGS. 3 and 4, it is seen that the door openingconsists of framing studs 32, 33, door jamb 34, door stop 35, moldings36, 37, and finished surfaces 38. Three measured sheets 11 of thearticle of this invention have been applied Ito the door opening thusconstructed so as -to completely cover the exposed surfaces thereofwhich would be normally subjected to `damage by reason of contact :bytools, other elements of building construction, and painting andcleaning liquids, for example. Each sheet 11 of the protective articleof this invention is applied to a uni-directional surface of the dooropening by folding the sheet 11 along the previously scored lines 23,24, or at other points as required by the particular measurements of theindividual construction members. Having conformed the sheet 11 generallyto the prole of the door opening, the aps 17 with their adjacentdeformable fastening members 20 are securely crimped behind the moldingmembers 36, 37, thereby holding the member 11 in place. In this manneradequate protection is given to the exposed construction elements so asto resist the normal abuse inherent in the building operations conductedin the vicinity of the door opening. By thus applying the sheets 11, itis seen that complete protection is alforded to the door stop 35, thejamb 34, and molding strips 36, 37 Likewise, added protection isincidentally provided for a portion of the baseboa'rd 31.

When it is desired to remove the protective sheet 11 from theconstruction element, it is only necessary to partially straighten -thecombined flap and fastening member arrangement, thus allowing thecomplete article to be removed from the protected construction element.When thus removed, the sheet 11 may be transferred to another likeconstruction element for similar use, or may be replaced on the sameconstruction element during a later stage of construction, or evenduring the incidental moving operations which -follow the completion ofthe construction program. 4For example, the door opening shown in FIG. 2may have several nishing opera-tions performed thereon and likewise, theplaster surface 38 of Wall 30 may require certain inishing operations.In such a case the sheet 11 `may be required to be removed several timesbefore the completion of construction. Because of the possibility ofvarious of the construction elements becoming wet at various times, itis desirable to form the outer and inner liners 12, 13 of a moistureresistant material, thereby prolonging the useful life of the protectivearticle of this invention.

From the above description it will lbe apparent that the protectivearticle described herein provides a simple and economical means forprotecting a great number of construction elements in their completed orpartially completed Iforms. The article of this invention Vmay -be-applied to construction members without the use of skilled labor,thereby resulting in considerable economic savings. An additionaladvantage provided by the article of this invention is its reusablenature. n It may be possible in certain circumstances to continue usingpre-cut protective articles formed in accordance with the principles ofthis invention on several independent building projects, therebytremendously increasing the economic advantages to be gained 30 from theuse of this protective material.

It is to be understood that the form of the invention herewith shown anddescribed is to be taken as a preferred embodiment. Various changes maybe made in the shape,

size, and arrangement of the parts. For example, equivalent elements maybe substituted for those illustrated and described herein, parts may bereversed, and certain teatures of the invention may be utilizedindependently of the use of other features, all Without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the subjoinedclaims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A protective article for installed construction materials comprisingin combination an elongated exible sheet of cellulosic materialconsisting of an outer layer, a corrugated core, and an inner layer; thesheet having formed transversely of each of its longitudinal edges'athree-sided integral flap, the outer free edge of the ap being alignedwith the respective longitudinal edge of the sheet; a readily deformablefastening member aixed to the outer layer of the sheet, the fasteningmember having a width not greater than that of the ap and a length suchthat it overlies a major portion of the ap in alignment therewith.

2. The article in accordance with claim 1 wherein the outer and innerlayers are Water resistant.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS625,858 Thornton May 30, 1899 1,221,755 Lehman lApr. 3, 1917 1,561,471Kress Nov. 17, 1925 2,731,191 Layne Jan. 17, 1956 2,794,761 WilliamsonJune 4, 1957 2,837,787 Wright June 10, 1958 2,895,431 Ford July 21, 19592,979,257. Bergstein Apr. 1l, 1961

